NAUTICAL LOG is an activist blog and publishes Posts on mostly maritime with some non-maritime subjects. We are open to receiving comments and will publish those which are about the subject matter using appropriate professional language, anonymous comments are not published.
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The Australian Government seems to have great trouble getting and keeping its act together to make constructive decisions. In an Australian Senate transcript published yesterday minimum facts were released about the whale monitoring overflights. Actually to date there has been only one such flight using an A319 which cost to lease $AUD93,248.00. The remainder of the costs remain undisclosed by the Australian Customs Department As to the aircraft itself the Australian Air Force Chief Geoff Brown thought that the aircraft was unsuitable for the monitoring flight mission.

According to Sea Shepherd Australia the total budget allocated was $AUD300,000.00 and the number of whales involved is 1035 threatened. From this their cost value per whale is $AUD289.86. In comparison the Australian Government spent $AUD1.8 million rescuing the Russian Cruise ship from the Antarctic. Well at least the Australian Government knows that human lives are more valuable than whales however much one val…

It is really nice when some good news comes in to NAUTICAL LOG about nature. It is even nicer when that news refers to protecting sealife. From the Pacific Coast comes news that the San Diego City Council has voted to protect the La Jolla Harbor seals during pupping season. The beach they use, Casa Beach, is a public beach and this has caused problems for the seals by the behavior of inconsiderate beachgoers. There had been an on going argument for years that the beach should remain open and always available to the public. However as always seems to happen there are some beachgoers who disrupt the seals at this upscale community's beach.

Yesterday the San Diego City Council voted to ban people from Casa Beach during the La Jolla Harbor seals pupping season and protect them from harm. The measure must go before the California Coastal Commission in August 2014 and is expected to be approved.

February 26, 2014:

In contrast to this mature decision by the San Diego City Council the We…

Hoist on their own petard. The SSCS taught the Japanese Whaling Fleet (JWF) too well and now they are getting their own tactics back at them from the JWF. In the current wimpy style of Operation Relentless they are running crying to "mommy". In their case "mommy" are the governments of Australia and New Zealand which one suspects, since one is busy killing sharks and the other too scared to upset trade with Japan, could actually care less.

On the Sea Shepherd Australia website there is yet another Report, also unsigned, about the JWF making a night attack on that intrepid mariner "captPH" in his severely damaged, unseaworthy vessel MS Bob Barker. This latest Report is full of pompous bombastic language and is entitled "Sea Shepherd Ambushed in Night Attack While Governments Do Nothing". According to the Report the MS Yushin Maru and MS Yushin Maru No.2 crossed the bow of this floating wreck towing steel cables in an effort to snag the prope…

Following the creationist format and not a logical evolutionary format there is yet another load of rubbish Report seeded with generic photos of the ships which could be from any time or season by Sea Shepherd Australia entitled "Sea Shepherd Locates Whale Poaching Fleet, Prepares forInterception". NAUTICAL LOG noted that this Report is unsigned - are they finally embarrassing themselves?

Those of you still interested in the confused goings-on in the Southern Ocean on the supposed anti-whaling Operation Relentless may want to go to the SSCS website. There one will find a Report by Peter Hammarstedt ("captPH") of the severely damaged, unseaworthy, and still unsurveyed SSCS vessel MS Bob Barker. The Report is entitled "On Being Relentless - Update from the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary".

The following photo is of the three musketeers those intrepid sea-going warriors of Sea Shepherd Australia - they make one really want to go…

Last evening there was an intense discussion on the TV News shows by the various pundits about the proposal by the current White House Administration. It was regarding the FCC placing "monitors" in the nations media outlets to assess the policies of the newspapers and TV stations on the news et cetera. It seems to be a pointless exercise apart from being illegal since everything the Media does and says is fully published. It is further appalling because the FCC has nothing to do with the publishing of newspapers and secondly there is The Constitution. Quoting in part from the Amendment I:

".....or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press..."

and again in part from the Amendment IV.

"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause supported by Oathor affirmation......."

On looking through the blogs listed in NAUTICAL LOG the Sea Shepherd has an article by Jennifer Mishler a Staff Writer/Editor of Sea Shepherd, USA. It is a rather moody report of her visit to the National Zoo when the giant octopus was alive. Pandora has since died at the age of five (5) years - human years not octopus years - which is just about the longest giant octopii live.

Ms. Mishler is saddened by the fact that she was unable to free Pandora from what she considered a "small" tank. She also mentions a variety of other points and then later in the article sort of corrects herself and admits the photo with the article is adjusted (photoshopped?). One feels saddened that Ms. Mishler, along with other Sea Shepherd persons judging from their blogs on the SSCS website seem to be looking for something their missing, are a bit lost travelling through life not fully enjoying any of the things they do.

As it happens in contrast NAUTICAL LOG with his wife, a daughter and t…

Whatever one might think about the capturing and killing of the dolphins in the cove at Taiji, Japan one has to respect the locals. Clearly this activity is deplorable but the local Japanese have been fair and balanced in their public reaction.

The two photos above show the protesters on the beach in the cove with their signs and at the City sign on the road approaching Taiji. The fact that the Japanese Government allowed these persons to signal their opinion against the actions of the Taji fishermen indicates a strong democratic respect from an ancient, traditional and very formal society. NAUTICAL LOG was pleased to see how both parties reacted to this controversy.

One has to wonder how many other countries would allow such protests in view of the recent violent governmental reaction to protests in the Russian Federation, Venezuela, Egypt and Nigeria to mention just the ones making the News this last week.

What is going on in the Southern Ocean with the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (SSCS) and New Zealand involved in the anti-whaling Operation Relentless this year. Perhaps it is the fact that everyone down there in the Southern Hemisphere is going around up-side-down and the blood is rushing to their collective heads.

The latest propaganda is a Report from the SSCS MS Steve Irwin in which its Master Siddarth Chakravarty states that the vessel is now free of the Japanese Whaling Fleet (JWF) security vessel MS Shonan Maru No.2 tailing them and so is able to resume the hunt for the MS Nisshin Maru the JWF factory ship. To do what?

In a previous Report they said they were positioned near the slipway of the MS Nisshin Maru and preventing the whales being hauled on board for slaughtering. This is where yet another Report said the JWF vessels attacked them and the MS Bob Barker - now an unseaworthy severely damaged ship still at sea - was in collision with the MS Yushin Maru No.2. Are th…

Once again SSCS has given us a mornings laugh over coffee. It really is hard to believe that adults playing captain can write this drivel, waffling-on about the behaviour of the JWF vessels when SSCS ships are doing the same things.

Today's complaint is about the JWF security vessel MS Shonan Maru No.2 entering New Zealand's Exclusive Economic Zone (NZEEZ) at position 49°10' South latitude 172°35' East longitude. There is no problem under International Maritime Law for her to do this as she has the right under the terms of innocent passage. However the peevish SSCS try to make mountains out of mole hills particularly when things are not going well for their anti-whaling operations.

A dramatic appeal was made to the Government of New Zealand to have the MS Shonan Maru No.2 removed from the NZEEZ - not going to happen. The amusing thing is that supposedly in the eyes of the SSCS the MS Shonan Maru No.2 is following the MS Steve Irwin this would mean that they too are i…

Yesterday while transiting the Florida Straits bound for Key West, Florida the Royal Netherlands Navy vessel HNLMS Zeeland P841 sighted an overturned boat and immediately set about rescuing the survivors. This was once again in the proud tradition of both the Royal Netherlands Navy and the Dutch Ensign flown by that ship. It is an Ensign flown by vessels which explored large areas of our world under superb navigators from whom we seafarers have all learned. In the Caribbean through southern Africa and on to the Spice Islands the Netherlands vessels with their striped flag were regularly seen. Their voyages resulted in what today we know as Indonesia an Islamic Republic. Their flag was flown by such first class merchant shipping companies as Royal Rotterdam Lloyd Line, Holland America Line and Nedlloyd all three of which NAUTICAL LOG worked for during his career. However sadly with all this proud and honourable history of the Dutch Ensign there is a problem with it these days.

NAUTICAL LOG has just received the latest Report from Operation Relentless.About the only thing that is relentless is the exaggerated writing of this propaganda Report. Both Peter Hammarstedt and Siddarth Chakravasty are now using the style of writing that was so common with "Wats-his-name" who used to control the propaganda pumped out by SSCS.

Now that legally the SSCS is restricted in operating the vessels the authority has been handed over to Sea Shepherd Australia which is a meaningless facade because they are the one and same organization with the vessels commanded by the same persons.

NAUTICAL LOG is not going to bother typing sections of the Report here as it can be read on their website. It is somewhat amusing to read their description of the Japanese who seem to be using the SSCS tactics back at them - successfully. This description is naturally fully applicable to themselves as the attackers of the Japanese Whaling Fleet now and in seasons past. A classic case …

NAUTICAL LOG has studied the raw footage supplied by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (SSCS) of their vessel MS Bob Barker in collision with the Japanese Whaling Fleet (JWF) vessel MS Yushin MaruNo.2 severe damage to the frame of the MS Bob Barker occurred and is clearly shown.

The force of the impact can be seen from the violent motion on the NavigationBridge with personnel being thrown about. The main frames forward are crushed inboard, bent and possibly fractured with possible further damage to the athwartship beams and the connection plates. This damage renders the vessel unseaworthy under the International Construction Rules. It is therefore now the duty of the Master, whether licensed or unlicensed, to bring the vessel to a "safe port" where she can be surveyed as to her seaworthiness.

The MS Bob Barker is an old ship that has been hard used, her keel was laid down in 1950 so that today she is 64 years old and under SSCS usage has been in numerous collisions with…

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﻿ It appears that the SSCS tactics against the JWF are now proven effective. At 0650 AEDT the JWF catcher ships MS Yushin Maru, Yushin Maru No.2, Yushin Maru No.3 ran at close quarters to both the MS Bob Barker, Peter Hammarstedt and MS Steve Irwin, Siddarth Chakravarty. These two SSCS vessels are blocking the slipway of the MS Nissin Maru and effectively preventing whales being hauled on board for butchering. The attack lasted about two hours during which it is claimed by SSCS the MS Bob Barker was hit by the MS Yushin Maru No.2 as she crossed her bow at speed.

These attacks took place at 68° 40' S. Latitude and 163° 43'W. Longitude According to the SSCS Report the JWF catchers overtook the Sea Shepherd ships from astern crossed the bow and came as close as three to five metres. However as described above one came even closer. Since all the ships involved were maneuvering and altering course it is not really possible to blame one ship coming in contact with another…